Improving the signal.

[Boxbhoy]

Hi,

| have motorised dish and a dreambox 800HD SE. I have set it all up but cannot improve the signal strength.

The best I can get is:

0.8W - 50%
3E - Nothing
4.8E - 65%
7E - Nothing
9E - 50%
10E - 55%

and that's it

My pole is level in both planes and I have tweaked the dish elevation but cannot improve. Above are the best I can do when the Dish elevation is set to around 18 degrees.

Any idea what the problem could be?

cheers

[digicon]

We need more information where you live/area size of dish lnb used, what i can tell you is that your dish elevation on a motorised for nearly all of the UK should be between 25-30

[ramjet]

with figures like that its clear you are not tracking the arc correctly if you are in the uk

[Boxbhoy]

I'm at 56N, 3.16W in the UK. I have a 1m dish, ALSAT superior motor and an Inverto ultra LNB. I have levelled the mounting pole so it's plum.



dish_pic1.jpg


When I set the dish elevation to between 25-30 I get not a thing.

Something is obviously a miss, but I'm at a loss what else to check or tweak.

[ramjet]

I'm at 56N, 3.16W in the UK. I have a 1m dish, ALSAT superior motor and an Inverto ultra LNB. I have levelled the mounting pole so it's plum.



[ATTACH=CONFIG]214571[/ATTACH]


When I set the dish elevation to between 25-30 I get not a thing.

Something is obviously a miss, but I'm at a loss what else to check or tweak.

ok, so the pole is "plumb"

so silly questions time now

please indicate the following answers

1) what have you set the motor body plates to where its marker shows the latitude in degrees (should be locked onto 56 degrees for your location) ?

2) check and reply with the exact details in your dreambox for the latitude setting you put into the settings menu ?

3) while in those settings menu , exactly what did you put into the dreambox longitude settings for your location ?

put the exact details into the answers please

also, send it to 5 west and indicate the signal and quality settings for the french fta channels

[Boxbhoy]

'Plumb' indeed. As opposed to Plum (me)


1) The motor is set to 56.
2) Latitude: 56.120 NORTH
3) Longitude: 3.160 WEST

I get nothing at 5W

[digicon]

I can tell you now that your dish elevation should be starting at around the 30 mark as your latitude 56 dictates a dish elevation of around 27.2 as i said previously start at around 30 and work down to maximise signal on 0.8? west or start at 25 and work up

[ramjet]

I agree with the above, especially the dish elevation figures, but for 5 west you should get good signals on the following transponder and channels

11591V 20000 qpsk france 2 , 3 , 5 , arte , tmc , and gcpe1 on 12543H 27500 (all fta channels)

when you are on that satellite your motor should be close to the zero marker as 5 west is quite close to your 3 west position ,

and with 0.8w showing good signals on 11900H 28000 music channel and 11862H 28000 bbc world news and 11247V 24500 btv-1 (all fta channels)

[digicon]

if your dish and motor and pole are aligned correctly then on a 1m dish on 11862 H 28000 Free To Air BBC world news you should have a signal not far of 100%.

[Boxbhoy]

Guys, I've read all the tuts. I know what I should get at what settings. But I have done it all and it's not working. I was hoping that from the numbers I'm giving you you could point me in the direction of what may be wrong.

Must it be the alignment? If so what is possibly wrong? The mounting pole is showing level with a spirit level an both brackets look to be tightened up in the center

To reiterate: I get nothing when the dish elevation is set (as it should) to between 25 - 30.

It is clear my strongest signal is when the dish elevation is bang on 18 degrees. Does this mean my motor setting is wrong? I cant see if it's still at 56 tbh, it's too high to see.

When the dish elevation is set at 18 degrees on Thor 0.8w I get 60% signal. I can improve this up to 92% when I move the motor manually with the buttons.

Does this give you any clue what is wrong?

[ramjet]

we know that you know all the tuts and what we have said , the problem is that you are asking us to diagnose a problem we cannot physically see, only you can see, you have not done this before but we have , and there is only one correct way to do it, which is the way we have both outlined for you

clearly if you cannot do as others have told you on here when you have asked for help, your only other recourse is to pay (yes pay) somebody who can diagnose the problem to rectify it

I dont wish to sound argumentative, BUT the way we are telling you is the correct way to do it, should you not do it our way (the correct way) then you wont get the correct results, its pointless you asking us to diagnose a problem when you have not followed the correct instructions in lining up a motor that everybody else uses in the entire country

there was a recent video posted in post #36 here http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums...86/index3.html that explains all this with pictures to boot !

When the dish elevation is set at 18 degrees on Thor 0.8w I get 60% signal. I can improve this up to 92% when I move the motor manually with the buttons.

the above proves beyond any doubt that you have not followed the correct instructions from myself or digicon or the sticky threads either

if you are having to move the motor by the motor buttons or by the remote control to increase the signal on thor, then you need to physically move the motor mount in that direction when on 62% until it reaches 92% after having physically moved it to the left or the right as required

ie:- the motor is not aimed directly at thor if you are having to move the motor left or right using the buttons in order to peak the signal- that is your problem

so in simple terms , put it on thor in your satellite receiver (having made sure your longitude and latitude are correct), once on thor select bbc world news and do not move it by any electrical means but by purely mechanical movement of the motor body and dish elevation and peak the signal on thor to 92% again (but without using any buttons) - post #8 gives you the exact channels to look for on 0.8w and 5w

whilst you are up there, double and triple check that the motor mount is set to 56 degrees too

ps:- some more info in here http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums...94/index2.html

and the thread containing the video has the same info posted by myself and digicon to try to help another "newbie" who didnt get his head around it and is still trying to do so just like you. whilst I am just a hobbyist who has done this task less than a dozen times, digicon is a seasoned professional dish installer with many, many installs under his belt, its his actual trade and job of work so I would not be trying to prove a proper tradesman doesnt know his job without some serious proof

[Boxbhoy]

Ramjet,

You just keep telling me the same thing. i.e nothing new from what I already haven't read. To suggest I have said anywhere you don't know what you're talking about is nonsense.

As Digicon is a pro my questions are directed at him if he is kind enough to answer.

I've obviously done something wrong but cannot see it. I've been up the ladder a hundred times tweaking and moving and it's still the same. As you've pointed out, the fact that I don't get anything using the correct dish elevation means I've done something wrong.

Can you look at the pictures and see if you can spot anything. One thing I have noticed - when the dish turns to the extreme east or west the whole dish points downwards. It doesn't look right to me. It's like I have the motor bracket upside down or something stupid. Even at 28E as in the photo the dish is tending to point downwards

cheers

28e down.jpgmotorsetting.jpgdish elev.jpg

[digicon]

Just to reiterate what ramjet has posted above he has given quite clear and sound advice and from that you should have no problem aligning the dish correctly, But i just wanted to throw this into the mix and with what you are saying about having to se the Orbital dish elevation angle at 18 to get a signal could you check the actual motor body position setting again as i think and as ramjet clearly stated we cant tell form here but it sounds like you may have got the Elevation & Latitude setting the wrong way round on the motor body itself.

If you could check either side then your Latitude side should read 56 and on the other side of the motor which is the Elevation should read 34

Worth a try

[mdt]

seeing as your saying the whole assembly doesnt look right are you sure its the motor lat set to 56 and not the motor elevation on the other side? as this is a common mistake,regards mdt

[Boxbhoy]

Thanks.

I think this is the root of the problem.

This is the bit I'm not getting. I thought the motor had 1 setting. I've just had a look and it's marked latitude on both sides of the bracket and set to 56 on both. Where is this 34 elevation setting on the motor?

Another thing I noticed when looking at the far side of the brackets - the Dish bracket is set at 18 on the near side (That I've been adjusting but the far side is 25! I didn't think this was possible.

cheers